Mini Camouflage Abstracts

Our last project of the year was this little camouflage abstract. 

I say camouflage because each little painting started with a cut-out from a cereal box or catalogue that was glued in the center of the 6" square illustration board. I had a lot of precut recycled cut-outs so kids had quite an assortment to choose from. I tried to have some with several colors and some with only 2 or 3 for kids who wanted something easier.

Then, using Sharpie pens, the kids extended lines from the cut-out to the edge of the board wherever two colors met. You can see what I mean in the above photo. Where the red changes to white, that is the start of one Sharpie line. Kids just moved their finger around the edge of the cut-out, looking for where one color met another.

I also made the rule that one Sharpie line could not cross another.

Then students used water color to try to mix the exact color on the cut-out and extend that color out to the edges of their board. I also said they, as artists, might choose to leave some sections white.

You can see in the first painting in the above photo how this student worked to achieve the variations of blue. These were done by 2nd graders and the concept of making tints using more water instead of adding white was a new skill for many!!

I love the graphic variety in these little gems!! I also told the kids that one of the reasons we were doing them now, was to remind them that they could easily do pictures like these at home during the summer using recycled cut-outs to start them out.

This is one of those absolutely "no fail" projects where everyone is successful. I think they did a GREAT job -- as I look at the photos above I am having a hard time finding some of the camouflaged shapes and I know where they are!!!!

Happy Summer!!

Tints, Shades and Big Sky Country

Clouds, clouds and more clouds . . .

Montana is such a great place to appreciate the sky and clouds. When you need a picture of clouds and the sky is clear, you just wait a little while and then go outside and there they are, rolling in and bringing some thunder and lightning with them. 

Notice how the sun back lights the clouds. This is what I like to focus on in this lesson. It works with the moon, too!

I LOVE giving kids pictures like this to use for value/color experiments.

First, they create a sky background -- either dark to light like the photo below, or concentric circles around a moon or sun (like the first photo above).

Then come the clouds, also dark to light. I like to provide students with lots of photos to use as reference because the light is different in each setting.

When everything is dry, they cut out the clouds, leaving a border of white paper around part of the clouds for the back light, and arrange them on their sky, as in the first photo above.

Pretty soon we have LOTS of storm clouds brewing!!

What else does Montana scenery provide for the art room? Well, how about these:

1. I like this for foreground, mid-ground and background with strong colors in the front and pale colors in the back. It also illustrates large items up close, smaller items in back.

 2. Here is another example of larger trees up close, smaller trees in the distance. 

 3. I do love river rocks and find that they are a good way for kids to practice shading and shadows either with "real-life" colors or Fauve-like hues. More on that later:))

Hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of summer vacation before it is time to start thinking of re-booting for school:))

It Started With Foam Core

Once upon a time an art teacher had a bunch of left over foam core (yes, that would be me:)). What to do with it?? How about some simple sculptures with a little design thrown in. That is how this all started. All well and fine, but I didn't like it and decided not to use it with kids. That seems to happen a lot when I'm trying to design lessons that will teach something of substance. So I set it aside.

One night I was looking over at it and noticed the shadows created by the raised edges and decided to do a quick sketch.

That made me think of when little kids draw things like tables they often draw the 2 front legs vertically and the back 2 legs protruding out diagonally (instead of leaving them out altogether or just drawing the part they can actually see). I'm not talking about an intentionally abstract rendition, but when kids are trying to represent something realistically and then get frustrated when their drawing doesn't "look real" to them or match what they see. Here we are at the crux of the matter -- what are you really seeing vs. what you think you see. I think little exercises in seeing are FUN and sometimes produce little exploratory gems.

So, curious about how washable watercolor marker shadows would look, using a black Crayola marker, I drew some shadows.

Then, I painted the marker lightly with plain water. (Now, this I like!!)

That was pretty fun!! But, it got me thinking about Holton Rower's drip paintings on plywood art. They truly fascinate me!! 

If you haven't seen this video of the process, it is a good one to check out (HERE).

Anyway, that got me experimenting drawing boxes with dripping paint. Hmm. Drawing the paint dripping is harder than it looks. This would really get kids to focus on changing line direction as the paint moves from a horizontal plane to a vertical drop!!!

This could tie into a Geometry unit. 
A little shading might be a good idea, too.

I think this would be fun to do with older kids.

The final question that came to mind was, "What would it look like to draw a tower looking at it from above?" Instead of using regular blocks, I tried it with organic shapes, using the same watercolor marker and water brushstrokes technique to create the shadows.

Younger students could have a blast with this!!

And just think, all this started with a bunch of left over foam core (which, it seems, I still haven't figured out what to do with)!!!

Hope everyone is enjoying a relaxing summer!

A Year of Red, White and Blue

Happy Flag Day to you!!
I thought it would be fun to go back over the year and find some red, white and blue images (starting with these Memorial Day flags):

I haven't done this art project at school yet -- maybe next year...

Part of this exercise was like going on vacation again, revisiting fun places. Here is artist, Nic, painting in front of his gallery in Carmel, CA and another view of the Pacific Ocean (also in Carmel).

And then there was visiting Balboa Island, where EVERY house has a cute mailbox out front!!

Here is another art project that I intended to do with the kids this year.

Summers in Victor, Montana have such special memories!!! The 4th of July there is great fun!!

Speaking of Victor, Mt, I got this little kid's antique chair near there years ago. (The Mondrian Art books didn't come with the chair though!)

Last November I got in the mood to paint some needlepoint Christmas ornaments. I used to do a lot of that -- not so much anymore. But it was fun to work on them for a few weeks.

I found this little door ornament at Joann's last week. Getting ready for the 4th, I guess:)

 I've had this little guy for almost my whole adult life. He's always just sittin' there on my desk.

And, finally, one of our favorite art projects for 1st graders...

I think I will spend some time between now and the 4th of July collecting a few more red, white and blue photos. Hopefully I'll be able to find some images near our school so they will be familiar to the students. I can use them for a Smartboard presentation for a red, white and blue art project next year!!

Visual Texture and Analogous Colors

One of the things I like about summer is having TIME to mull things over. For quite a few weeks, I've been contemplating using one basic color and its analogous colors to create an overlapping collage. So, today I got out the crayons, watercolors, scissors, foam core and glue and started putting the ideas into practice.

First step was to mix some greens in the watercolor lid (this is why I ONLY use watercolor pans with white lids in the classroom -- so you see the true colors you mix.

Next was a wet-on-wet wash of mixed greens.

 While that was drying I made some squares with crayon line designs that would create visual texture once the watercolor wash went on top of them. In the classroom I plan and asking student to choose a shape for their "tiles". I chose squares, but I think circles, ovals, petal-shapes etc would be great, too.

 Then came the watercolor crayon resist wash -- in different shades of green.

 When the squares dried (which didn't take long) I cut them apart. Actually, in the classroom this would be the start of Day 2.

 I actually spent quite a bit of time arranging and rearranging my tiles on the background, turning the tiles to see how the textures looked in different places and with their predominant lines facing different directions.

 Small pieces of foam core were for raising some of the overlapped tiles.

 The last step was to glue everything down and decide what color matte would look best with the greens.

I am thinking about this for 4th or 5th grade with part of the lesson focusing on Unity/Harmony. I took some photos last year on my trip to Montana with the intent of students using them as inspiration for visual texture and I may use these to kick-start some ideas for the textures kids could use. Here are a few:

I like the idea of having students use neutral color photos and then interpret them using colors from the color wheel. I have a few other ideas for using pictures like these this year -- am still working them (at least in my head)!!! Bye for now. . . .

A Red, White and Blue Friend

Last week I was pondering how to replicate the art mask given to me by a friend to use as a classroom project. I had thought I would use plaster cloth like the original but try a different sort of hair.

Instead of the plaster cloth, I tried a paper mache version, molding 2-3 layers of newspaper over an upside down bowl. I lined the bowl shape with foil first so I could lift it off the mold easily. When it was dry, I cut around the base to even everything. You could leave the foil on the inside for stability, but I pealed it off and that worked fine, too. Then I painted the whole "dome" with a layer of Gesso.

Instead of shells for the spiky hair, I rolled triangles of magazine paper to make long paper beads (like we used to make for necklaces in Crafts classes as a kid).

 I found I actually liked the paper mache better than plaster for classroom use because it was easier to poke holes to insert the hair. I just used a push pin (you can see it on the lower right), poked a hole and then wiggled it around a little to make the hole large enough for the end of the paper bead to go through.

For the eyes I ended up tying a piece of black perle cotton (like sewing thread, only thicker -- but not as thick as string) criss-crossed - like you were tying a package around each seed pod. I poked holes in the mask, inserted the threads and tied them together on the inside. Then I secured the perle cotton on the inside with a piece of duct tape. You can kind of see the inside in this next photo.

I also liberally applied glue to the inside of the hair spikes. I started using Glue All, and it probably would have worked, but then decided to take Phyl's advice (see last post comment) and used Tacky Glue, too. I also put some Tacky Glue under each seed pod eye so they wouldn't wobble around.

For the color,  I used red acrylic, watered down a bit so I'd get some texture and variation of color. When I had glued all the hair spikes and eyes, the last step was to paint the blue designs. I use acrylics for this step, too.

I love having time during the summer to try things out. To be honest, this was fun to make, BUT I don't think I'll be using it in the classroom because of all the various steps of drying time. All in all, it took 6 different days just to dry, plus the painting and bead-making steps!! GREAT for a "do at home" project with the kids, but it won't work in the classroom setting I have. It also takes a bit of patience and dexterity, so I  probably wouldn't do it with grades younger than 4th.

Speaking of 4th, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY everyone!!! I'm now off to bake dessert for our yearly barbecue!!